Firm Steps in Christ

Like most young women my age, shoes are one of my many passions. I love a hot pair of heels, cute flips-flops, and especially a great pair of running shoes. Having good support for my feet--especially during work(I'm a server)is important because being on my feet all afternoon can be quite tiring. I also have to make sure that my shoes have some type of gripping on them as I quickly move around the kitchen during dinner rushes. Slipping with a full tray of drinks and/or food is messy and I try to avoid it at all costs! As I read through the Psalms, I can't help but notice a similar pattern with David. He is constantly speaking about taking firm steps in Christ in order to avoid messes. The Lord should guide our steps even today. Although our feet are not always steady, we always can rely on the Lord to place our feet firmly underneath us. In Psalm 37:23-24, he writes:

If the LORD delights in a man’s way,
he makes his steps firm;
though he stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

I love that he writes that although he stumbles at times, the Lord will support us with His hand. What an awesome thought!
David also writes in Psalm 38:16

I wait for you, O LORD;
you will answer, O Lord my God.
For I said, “Do not let them gloat
or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips.”

David also asks God for support when he does lose his footing, especially when others tend to gloat at our mistakes. This is applicable today, as Christians do tend to slip, and the world scrutinizes our mistakes. I've never understood this. Proclaiming to have a relationship with Christ isn't proclaiming perfection, it is proclaiming our unmistakable imperfection. If anything, we are claiming that we cannot live without Christ because we do fall, and boy do we fall. My favorite reference that David writes in the Psalms refers to the grace Christ has for us. In Psalm 40:2

He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

No matter how far or deep that we fall away from Christ, He can take us and give us something solid to stand on. The Lord is so awesome.

Loving Out of Desire, Not Obligation

The Lord's greatest commandment to us it to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And the second, to love others as you love yourself." Matthew 22:37-39

Learning to love God and people is something we have to actively pursue. We do not need to do these things out of obligation or fear of God(not saying that we shouldn't have a reverent fear for Him). Sometimes we let ourselves file 'being a Christian' into the obligation category. We think that we need to act a certain way or do certain things(*cough* like attend church weekly and volunteer for the newest committee at church) in which our hearts are not in. Seeking the Lord should not only be something we do out of our reverence and love for Him, but something we do because we want to. By continuously seeking the Lord, He will change us and our desires to be more in tune with His. We need to train ourselves to seek the Lord in everything we do so it will become natural, and not something that we do out of obligation to Him or something we put on because we are labeled Christians. When our desires change to match His, loving Him and others will become natural.

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes;its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." Jer. 17:7-8

I love this image of a man who trusts in the Lord described as a tree that will not be dried up. A tree that will always be green because its roots are supplied by a stream. Every time we worry, we let the drought come and dry up our faith. The Lord tells us to have confidence in Him and we will never fail to thrive because our source of life is never-ending.